Back-to-back MVP awards? Nikola Jokic gets great news in final ESPN poll
Mar 29, 2022, 9:48 AM
The NBA MVP race between Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid is going to come down to the wire.
Last Friday, Embiid passed Jokic on the NBA.com MVP ladder for the first time in five weeks. Today, Jokic appeared to become the favorite for the award once again after ESPN released its latest MVP straw poll.
In the poll 100 media members from around the country are asked to submit their top-5 choices for MVP, similar to how the actual vote will go in a couple of weeks. Jokic ended up with 62 of the 100 first-place votes, with Embiid getting 29 and Milwaukee superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo receiving the other nine.
It’s the most clear cut indication yet that Jokic is poised to win back-to-back MVP awards, but it’s still not a done deal. From ESPN:
There is still more uncertainty remaining in this race than there usually is at this time of the year. Many voters stressed how tough it was for them to choose which way to go, both among the positioning of top-three finishers and fourth and fifth places.
And while the leader in the final version of this straw poll has gone on to win the league’s MVP award the past four years it was conducted, there is reason to believe Jokic still has work to do to officially sew up consecutive awards.
Jokic is currently averaging 26.3 points per game, 13.6 rebounds, eight assists and 1.4 steals on the year. The Nuggets are the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference with a 45-31 record and just six regular season games to go.
As I said last week, the reality is both Jokic and Embiid are worthy of the award. We can get blue in the face arguing about it, but each guy is a special talent having a phenomenal year. As Stephen A. Smith told Schlereth and Evans recently, Jokic is absolutely capable of winning the MVP again.
And it appears momentum is indeed shifting that way, with Jokic on the verge of becoming just the 13th back-to-back MVP in NBA history.
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